On May 9th this year a traditional military parade will be held on Red Square in Moscow in honor of 65th anniversary of victory over fashism. The parade is considered a most ambitious one by the number of participants in the last years. Apart from representatives of all branches of Russian armed forces, the veterans of WW2 will also took part in the celebration. (According to some information over 100.000 WW2 veterans is expected at the celebration.)

According to the tradition the beginning of the defile will be announced by the drummers of Moscow Military orchestra. The flag of Russia will be fallowed by a defile of flags from WW2. Units representing all branches of Russian military will fallow accompanied by professors and students of military academies. This years parade will be special, since for the first time a unit of US armed forces will take part in the parade accompanied by other participants of WW2.

Defile of vehicles, tanks, self propelled rocket launchers will show types currently in service with Russian military, but also some types which are yet to be introduced into service. It is expected that the rocket systems "Topol-M" and the anti-aircraft system "Pancir" will be shown. A special part of the parade will be flight of 140 aircraft.

Here are some pictures I found on the internet: pictures of first Victory Parade held in 1945 (pic 1), vehicles assembled to take part in this years parade (pic 23), helicopters and aircraft on rehearsal flight (pic 45) and US unit to take part in parade during night rehearsal on the Red square.

Cheers mates! I do think this years parade will be quite interesting...

Apart from great amount of military hardware and 140 aircraft it is reported that 10.500 Russian soldiers will take part in this parade. Unit of US Army is not the only foreign participant however, with around 1000 soldiers from several other countries expected to take part, including troops from Great Britain, France, Poland and almost all countries - former republics of Soviet Union.

Great stuff and nice pics too Igor, thanks. Surprising, but good, and a long time coming, that other countries' Forces can attend. This is going to be a heck of a show, and it would be fantastic to be there to 'feel' tha atmosphere.

A military parade involving over 10,000 personnel and 150 tracked and wheeled military vehicles, as well as 127 aircraft overhead, was staged Sunday on Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate Victory Day.
Victory Day marks the final surrender by Nazi Germany to the U.S.S.R. in World War II, often referred to as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other states in the former Soviet Union.
Moscow’s Military District Commander, Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, led the parade which began at 10.00 a.m.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev addressed the participants and guests at the beginning of the parade.
"This war made us a strong nation… We won not simply a military victory but also a moral victory." - Medvedev said.
The parade, which was accompanied by over 50 Russian and foreign military orchestras with 1,200 musicians, was divided into three parts – a march-past, involving military personnel, followed by sophisticated hardware and then a flyover by combat aircraft.
US, British, Polish and French troops participated alongside the Russian military units in the parade for the first time in history.
The Russian president called for united international efforts to face new challenges and global threats and to prevent tragedies similar toWorld War II, which took lives of an estimated 60 million people around the world.
"The joint march symbolizes our readiness to defend peace, to prevent the revision of the results of the war, to prevent new tragedies." - Medvedev said.
Over 102.000 military servicemen and about 200.000 World War II veterans across Russia took part in the festivities dedicated to the 65th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.
The first Victory Parade was held on Red Square June 24, 1945 on the order of the then Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin.
According to latest studies, the total casualties of the Soviet Union, both soldiers and civilians, were 26.6 million people - of these, an estimated 8.668.400 were soldiers.

Finally, here are some pictures. I hope to post more later, especially of military hardware and aircraft. Personally, I really liked the appearance of WW2 tanks T-34 and tank destroyers SU-100 at the parade. I didn't count them, but all in all, it must have been around 20 or so vintage armored fighting vehicles there. Very nice touch. Also, soldiers marching dressed in WW2 uniforms were interesting sight...

Picture 1 - Honor guard marching with Russian and Soviet flagsPicture 2 - Contingent from the United States military; 2nd Battalion of the 18th Infantry RegimentPicture 3 - Contingent from the Polish Army (Polish troops also took part in the first Victory Parade held in 1945).Picture 4 - Red coats on the Red Square; detachment from the 1st Battalion Welsh GuardsPicture 5 - Contingent of the Turkmen Army. Mounted officer in front is riding a horse which is direct descendant of the horse Marshal Zhukov rode on the first parade in 1945.Picture 6 - World leaders present today in Moscow. Most notable is the attendance of Angela Merkel, German Chancellor. Among others Boris Tadić (President of Serbia) was also present.

Brilliant stuff imalko. Given the much publicised financial woes of the Russian military it's nice to see the traditional element of such a large and well organised event, which must've been a great morale boost for personnel, and I like the international involvement to strengthen east European relations. I hope it is a theme which will continue from all sides.

And I hope the Ukraine and Russia can sort out their differences, and the Kremlin backs off to let Parliamentary diplomacy take the lead in Georgia. It'd be nice to see Russia and CIS nations come of age in a cooperative international community no longer ruled by imperial superpowers, but by common and forgiving ideologies.